Behind the Purple Door: A Day At the US Sales Office
[Behind the Purple Door is a monthly blog feature wherein we take a sneak peek into the lives of Parragon employees. This time, we visit the office - and the mind - of Liz Berntson, US Sales.]
When you have a frenetic attention span, a creative side, a penchant for talking to all types of people and a brain that tends to run in fifth gear (the coffee addiction probably doesn’t help), it can be difficult to find a job that can address it all. I’ve been at Parragon for about six months now, and it seems I may have met a company that can give me a run for my money. It’s a good feeling.
As someone who has worked in myriad industries - as a reporter, in restaurants, in the casting business, and as a teacher, just to name a few – I can tell you, it’s nice when a company recognizes qualities that define your core, letting you be you and give you tools to nurture it.
Since the inception of my employment here, I’ve used that frenetic attention span to heap my plate with potential accounts to go after, leaving plenty of space for thoughts/ideas of my own of where we can sell books, find inspiration, compete and grow. Among the top items on my list today is working with the stationery retailer Papyrus, which sells beautiful items for entertaining, greeting cards, gift wrap, gift bags, stationery, note cards, journals and unique gift products. I also work with Williams Sonoma home stores (including Pottery Barn Kids), flash sale websites and Spencer’s.
The best part of working with Papyrus so far has been seeing two of our books – the Guide to Cigars and The Bartender’s Guide - find their way into Papyrus’ many stores this spring across the U.S. I’m also working to make sure our Baking Bible gets safely to the shelves of Williams Sonoma stores this fall. Totsy, Ideeli and Fab.com are flash sale sites that I’m busy coordinating events with as well.
So as I continue to deal with that and as I write this last bit, my spazzy brain is telling me: “Wrap it up, Liz, you’ve got work to do,” (and yes, I do talk to myself – did you really think otherwise?) Why, I just discovered that Spencer’s has a small chain of children’s stores that look like a great candidate for Trash Pack and I need to call someone at the Hot Topic store and also the Creative Director at Pottery Barn Kids, and I really should call my other 1-800-Flowers contact, and, and, and wait – I think that the Little Learners characters have so much potential – can we develop a line of flash cards? A memory game?
And, and, and….It’s endlessly engaging.
My point is, I’m happily busy and while I don’t mean to be rude, I’ve got stuff to do.Fortunately, I’m surrounded by a staff of well-intentioned, industrious, friendly officemates who, like me, see a ton of potential business opportunities, and have lots of wonderful ideas and ways to get things accomplished. If there was only more time in the day….sigh.
And yet, there’s always coffee. Ahhh, coffee - think I’ll go grab some now. In the meantime, check out the view of the Empire State Building from my desk – it doesn’t get any more New York than that. A perk among perks if you will. Pun intended.
